附錄2:MicrocomputerSystemsElectronicsystemsareusedforhandinginformationinthemostgeneralsense；thisinformationmaybetelephoneconversation,instrumentreadoracompanysaccounts,butineachcasethesamemaintypeofoperationareinvolved:theprocessing,storageandtransmissionofinformation.inconventionalelectronicdesigntheseoperationsarecombinedatthefunctionlevel；forexampleacounter,whetherelectronicormechanical,storesthecurrentandincrementsitbyoneasrequired.Asystemsuchasanelectronicclockwhichemployscountershasitsstorageandprocessingcapabilitiesspreadthroughoutthesystembecauseeachcounterisabletostoreandprocessnumbers.Presentdaymicroprocessorbasedsystemsdepartfromthisconventionalapproachbyseparatingthethreefunctionsofprocessing,storage,andtransmissionintodifferentsectionofthesystem.ThispartitioningintothreemainfunctionswasdevisedbyVonNeumannduringthe1940s,andwasnotconceivedespeciallyformicrocomputers.Almosteverycomputerevermadehasbeendesignedwiththisstructure,anddespitetheenormousrangeintheirphysicalforms,theyhaveallbeenofessentiallythesamebasicdesign.Inamicroprocessorbasedsystemtheprocessingwillbeperformedinthemicroprocessoritself.Thestoragewillbebymeansofmemorycircuitsandthecommunicationofinformationintoandoutofthesystemwillbebymeansofspecialinput/output(I/O)circuits.Itwouldbeimpossibletoidentifyaparticularpieceofhardwarewhichperformedthecountinginamicroprocessorbasedclockbecausethetimewouldbestoredinthememoryandincrementedatregularintervalsbutthemicroprocessor.However,thesoftwarewhichdefinedthesystemsbehaviorwouldcontainsectionsthatperformedascounters.Theapparentlyratherabstractapproachtothearchitectureofthemicroprocessoranditsassociatedcircuitsallowsittobeveryflexibleinuse,sincethesystemisdefinedalmostentirelysoftware.Thedesignprocessislargelyoneofsoftwareengineering,andthesimilarproblemsofconstructionandmaintenancewhichoccurinconventionalengineeringareencounteredwhenproducingsoftware.Thefigure1.1illustrateshowthesethreesectionswithinamicrocomputerareconnectedintermsofthecommunicationofinformationwithinthemachine.Thesystemiscontrolledbythemicroprocessorwhichsupervisesthetransferofinformationbetweenitselfandthememoryandinput/outputsections.Theexternalconnectionsrelatetotherest(thatis,thenon-computerpart)oftheengineeringsystem.Fig.1.1ThreeSectionsofaTypicalMicrocomputerAlthoughonlyonestoragesectionhasbeenshowninthediagram,inpracticetwodistincttypesofmemoryRAMandROMareused.Ineachcase,thewordmemoryisratherinappropriatesinceacomputersmemoryismorelikeafilingcabinetinconcept；informationisstoredinasetofnumberedboxesanditisreferencedbytheserialnumberoftheboxinquestion.MicrocomputersuseRAM(RandomAccessMemory)intowhichdatacanbewrittenandfromwhichdatacanbereadagainwhenneeded.Thisdatacanbereadbackfromthememoryinanysequencedesired,andnotnecessarilythesameorderinwhichitwaswritten,hencetheexpressionrandomaccessmemory.AnothertypeofROM(ReadOnlyMemory)isusedtoholdfixedpatternsofinformationwhichcannotbeaffectedbythemicroprocessor；thesepatternsarenotlostwhenpowerisremovedandarenormallyusedtoholdtheprogramwhichdefinesthebehaviorofamicroprocessorbasedsystem.ROMscanbereadlikeRAMs,butunlikeRAMstheycannotbeusedtostorevariableinformation.SomeROMshavetheirdatapatternsputinduringmanufacture,whileothersareprogrammablebytheuserbymeansofspecialequipmentandarecalledprogrammableROMs.ThewidelyusedprogrammableROMsareerasablebymeansofspecialultravioletlampsandarereferredtoasEPROMs,shortforErasableProgrammableReadOnlyMemories.Othernewtypesofdevicecanbeerasedelectricallywithouttheneedforultravioletlight,whicharecalledElectricallyErasableProgrammableReadOnlyMemories,EEPROMs.Themicroprocessorprocessesdataunderthecontroloftheprogram,controllingtheflowofinformationtoandfrommemoryandinput/outputdevices.Someinput/outputdevicesaregeneral-purposetypeswhileothersaredesignedforcontrollingspecialhardwaresuchasdiscdrivesorcontrollinginformationtransmissiontoothercomputers.MosttypesofI/Odevicesareprogrammabletosomeextent,allowingdifferentmodesofoperation,whilesomeactuallycontainspecial-purposemicroprocessorstopermitquitecomplexoperationstobecarriedoutwithoutdirectlyinvolvingthemainmicroprocessor.Themicroprocessorprocessesdataunderthecontroloftheprogram,controllingtheflowofinformationtoandfrommemoryandinput/outputdevices.Someinput/outputdevicesaregeneral-purposetypeswhileothersaredesignedforcontrollingspecialhardwaresuchasdiscdrivesorcontrollinginformationtransmissiontoothercomputers.MosttypesofI/Odevicesareprogrammabletosomeextent,allowingdifferentmodesofoperation,whilesomeactuallycontainspecial-purposemicroprocessorstopermitquitecomplexoperationstobecarriedoutwithoutdirectlyinvolvingthemainmicroprocessor.Themicroprocessor,memoryandinput/outputcircuitmayallbecontainedonthesameintegratedcircuitprovidedthattheapplicationdoesnotrequiretoomuchprogramordatastorage.Thisisusuallythecaseinlow-costapplicationsuchasthecontrollersusedinmicrowaveovensandautomaticwashingmachines.Theuseofsinglepackageallowsconsiderablecostsavingstoemadewhenarticlesaremanufacturedinlargequantities.Astechnologydevelops,moreandmorepowerfulprocessorsandlargerandlargeramountsofmemoryarebeingincorporatedintosinglechipmicrocomputerswithresultingsavinginassemblycostsinthefinalproducts.Fortheforeseeablefuture,however,itwillcontinuetobenecessarytointerconnectanumberofintegratedcircuitstomakeamicrocomputerwheneverlargeramountsofstorageorinput/outputarerequired.Anothermajorengineeringapplicationofmicrocomputersisinprocesscontrol.Herethepresenceofthemicrocomputerisusuallymoreapparenttotheuserbecauseprovisionisnormallymadeforprogrammingthemicrocomputerfortheparticularapplication.Inprocesscontrolapplicationsthebenefitslffittingtheentiresystemontosinglechipareusuallyoutweighedbythehighdesigncostinvolved,becausethissortlfequipmentisproducedinsmallerquantities.Moreover,processcontrollersareusuallymorecomplicatedsothatitismoredifficulttomakethemassingleintegratedcircuits.Twoapproachesarepossible；thecontrollercanbeimplementedasageneral-purposemicrocomputerratherlikeamorerobustversionlfahobbycomputer,orasapackagedsystem,signedforreplacingcontrollersbasedonoldertechnologiessuchaselectromagneticrelays.Intheformercasethesystemwouldprobablybeprogrammedinconventionalprogramminglanguagessuchastheonesto9beintroducedlater,whileintheothercaseaspecial-purposelanguagemightbeused,forexampleonewhichallowedthefunctionofthecontrollertobedescribedintermsofrelayinterconnections,IneithercaseprogramscanbestoredinRAM,whichallowsthemtobealteredtosuitchangesinapplication,butthismakestheoverallsystemvulnerabletolosslfpowerunlessbatteriesareusedtoensurecontinuityofsupply.AlternativelyprogramscanbestoredinROM,inwhichcasetheyvirtuallybecomepartoftheelectronichardwareandareoftenreferredtoasfirmware.Moresophisticatedprocesscontrollersrequireminicomputersfortheirimplementation,althoughtheuselflargescaleintegratedcircuitsthedistinctionbetweenminiandmicrocomputers,Productsandprocesscontrollersofvariouskindsrepresentthemajorityofpresent-daymicrocomputerapplications,theexactfiguresdependingononesinterpretationofthewordproduct.Virtuallyallengineeringandscientificusesofmicrocomputerscanbeassignedtooneorotherofthesecategories.ButinthesystemwemoststudyPressureandPressureTransmitters.Pressureariseswhenaforceisappliedoveranarea.ProvidedtheforceisoneNewtonanduniformlyovertheareaofonesquaremeters,thepressurehasbeendesignatedonePascal.Pressureisauniversalprocessingcondition.Itisalsoaconditionoflifeontheplanet:weliveatthebottomofanatmosphericoceanthatextendsupwardformanymiles.Thismassofairhasweight,andthisweightpressingdownwardcausesatmosphericpressure.Water,afundamentalnecessityoflife,issuppliedtomostofusunderpressure.Inthetypicalprocessplant,pressureinfluencesboilingpointtemperatures,condensingpointtemperatures,processefficiency,costs,andotherimportantfactors.Themeasurementandcontrolofpressureorlackofit-vacuum-inthetypicalprocessplantiscritical.Theworkinginstrumentsintheplantusuallyincludesimplepressuregauges,precisionrecordersandindicators,andpneumaticandelectronicpressuretransmitters.Apressuretransmittermakesapressuremeasurementandgenerateseitherapneumaticorelectricalsignaloutputthatisproportionaltothepressurebeingsensed.Intheprocessplant,itisimpracticaltolocatethecontrolinstrumentsoutintheplaceneartheprocess.Itisalsotruethatmostmeasurementsarenoteasilytransmittedfromsomeremotelocation.Pressuremeasurementisanexception,butifahighpressureofsomedangerouschemicalistobeindicatedorrecordedseveralhundredfeetfromthepointofmeasurement,ahazardmaybefromthepressureorfromthechemicalcarried.Toeliminatethisproblem,asignaltransmissionsystemwasdeveloped.Thissystemisusuallyeitherpneumaticorelectrical.Andcontrolinstrumentsinonelocation.Thismakesitpracticalforaminimumnumberofoperatorstoruntheplantefficiently.Whenapneumatictransmissionsystemisemployed,themeasurementsignalisconvertedintopneumaticsignalbythetransmitterscaledfrom0to100percentofthemeasurementvalue.Thistransmitterismountedclosetothepointofmeasurementintheprocess.Thetransmitteroutput-airpressureforapneumatictransmitter-ispipedtotherecordingorcontrolinstrument.Thestandardoutputrangeforapneumatictransmitteris20to100kPa,whichisalmostuniversallyused.Whenanelectronicpressuretransmitterisused,thepressureisconvertedtoelectricalsignalthatmaybecurrentorvoltage.Itsstandardrangeisfrom4to20mADCforcurrentsignalorfrom1to5VDCforvoltagesignal.Nowadays,anothertypeofelectricalsignal,whichisbecomingcommon,isthedigitalordiscretesignal.Theuseofinstrumentsandcontrolsystemsbasedoncomputerorforcingincreaseduseofthistypeofsignal.Sometimesitisimportantforanalysistoobtaintheparametersthatdescribethesensor/transmitterbehavior.Thegainisfairlysimpletoobtainoncethespanisknown.Consideranelectronicpressuretransmitterwitharangeof0600kPa.Thegainis：definedasthechangeinoutputdividedbythechangeininput.Inthiscase,theoutputiselectricalsignal(420mADC)andtheinputisprocesspressure(0600kPa).Th